In 1963, Marlboro cigarettes began using the theme song of which film in its TV commercials?

In 1963, Marlboro cigarettes began using the theme song from John Sturges’ 1960 film "The Magnificent Seven" in its TV commercials. This was the original film that starred Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, and Steve McQueen as its heroes. The music score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, who received an Oscar nomination for the score. Once the movie had been by United Artists (UA), the theme from "The Magnificent Seven” took on a life all its own. The song has subsequently appeared in other movies, commercials, and music covers by well known artists.

Once Marlboro cigarettes began using the theme in its television commercials, the wildly popular “Marlboro Man” ad campaign became very very successful. It only ended (on TV, at least) when cigarette commercials were banned from the airwaves in 1971.

The original film ("The Magnificent Seven") was both a critical and commercial success. As a results of its total attraction and popularity, it has been appraised as one of the greatest films of the Western genre by the American Film Institute. In 2013, the film was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".